Host intrusion prevention system using software and user behavior analysis

ABSTRACT

In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for threat detection using a behavioral-based host-intrusion prevention method and system for monitoring a user interaction with a computer, software application, operating system, graphic user interface, or some other component or client of a computer network, and performing an action to protect the computer network based at least in part on the user interaction and a computer code process executing during or in association with a computer usage session.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of the following commonlyowned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/506,749 filed on Jul. 21, 2009and entitled “BEHAVIORAL-BASED HOST INTRUSION PREVENTION SYSTEM,” whichis incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present invention is related to behavioral-based threat detection.

2. Description of the Related Art

There exists within the art of anti-malware many methods for inspectionof run time behaviors of applications, executables and processes. Basedupon the behaviors of said objects, policy decisions can be made aboutthe legitimacy of the application and execution halted and changesreversed to prevent damage, unauthorized access and so on. Behavioralinspection is used as a means of malware detection due to the increasingpropensity for malware authors to obfuscate and randomize content,making conventional deterministic content-based analysis mechanismsincreasingly ineffective. Existing behavioral monitoring systems havebeen with a database of actions and resources that are blacklisted andindicate malicious intent. During run time, if a given process,application or executable (perhaps being manipulated while the contentof the executable itself is legitimate or where interpreting maliciousdata causes unintended and malicious behavior in a legitimate entity)performs any one of the actions in the list of negative actions theprocess may be identified as malicious and terminated or theadministrator alerted. To avoid false positives, these existingimplementations may also have exception lists for rules based on knownprocesses and behaviors.

Behavioral inspection is already a corner stone of modern malwareprotection; however these implementations are limited in their abilityto remediate and to differentiate between minor events and definitivemalicious activity exhibited by a known class of malware. This makesdriving simple remediation challenging as the process can be killed, butany other potential files and alike remain untouched (and unassociatedwith the event).

SUMMARY

In embodiments of the present invention, a behavioral-basedhost-intrusion prevention method and system may be used for monitoring auser interaction with a computer, software application, operatingsystem, graphic user interface, or some other component of a computer(e.g. a client) within a computer network, and performing an action toprotect the computer and/or computer network based at least in part onthe user interaction. Such protection may be provided based at least inpart by monitoring a user interaction with a computer, and/or computernetwork client device, during a usage session for an indication of auser behavior and monitoring a computer code process executing duringthe usage session for an indication of a code operation. The indicationof the user behavior may be a result of comparing the user interaction,or plurality of user interactions, with a predetermined behavior(hereinafter, a “behavioral gene”). For example, markers of userbehaviors with a computer or client device of a computer network may bemonitored, recorded, stored, classified, and/or analyzed based at leastin part on the indicia of behavior, and data relating to the behavior,that are created by the user behavior. For example, a user clicking on alink may be detected, recorded, stored, classified, and/or analyzed.Other sample behaviors may include, but are not limited to, a userscrolling down a page, opening or closing a window, clicking on a linkon a webpage, downloading a file, saving a file, running a file, typinga keyword, or some other user interaction. For each of the userbehaviors occurring within the computer network, or derived frombehaviors recorded from interaction with another computer network, abehavioral gene may be stored in a database that is associated with thecomputer network in which the data relating to the user behavior isrecorded and stored. For example, a behavioral gene called “Internetdownload” may be created and stored in association with the computernetwork. This behavioral gene may summarize the user behaviors of 1)executing a hyperlink on the Internet, and 2) performing a “save as”action in which a file is saved to a location in the computer network,such as a hard drive. A single user behavior (e.g., closing anapplication) may be recorded and stored as a behavioral gene.Alternatively, a plurality of user behaviors may be recorded within asingle behavioral gene. The user behaviors embodied in a behavioral genemay be derived from a user's single usage session, for example, oneinstance of running an Internet browser, or may be derived from multipleusage sessions that are temporally distinct, such as a first usagesession in which an Internet browser is used, and a second usage sessionin which a file is opened that was downloaded to the user's hard driveduring the first usage session.

In embodiments, the indication of the code operation may be a result ofcomparing an operation with a predetermined code behavior (hereinafter,a “code gene”). For example, a code gene may be a virus definition, amalware definition, an adware definition, or some other code behavior.The behavioral gene and the code gene may be stored for reference in adatabase. The monitoring of the computer code process executing duringthe usage session may be performed one or more times to collect aplurality of code genes. The step of identifying a behavioral gene andcode gene may be independent steps. A combination of one or morebehavioral genes may be combined with one or more code genes and thecombination compared to a predetermined collection of user behavior-codeoperation indications (“phenotypes”). The phenotypes may comprise agrouping of specific behavioral and code gene combinations that aretypically present in a type of malicious usage session or operation witha computer. The identification of a phenotype that is indicative and/orassociated with a malicious computer operation may cause an action, suchas an intrusion preventive action to occur within the computer network.A phenotype may comprise one behavioral gene and a plurality of codegenes, a plurality of behavioral genes and one code gene, or some othercombination of behavioral genes and code genes. In some embodiments, aphenotype may comprise a combination of one or more behavioral genes,one or more code genes, including embodiments in which there is atemporal disparity between the identification of the behavioral gene andthe identification of the code gene.

In embodiments, the step of causing an action, such as a intrusionprevention action, may include creating an audit record. The creation ofan audit record may include updating a log file. In some embodiments,the step of causing an action may include, at least in part, forcing theusage session to occur within a restricted operating environment (e.g.in a sandbox, etc.). In embodiments, the step of causing an action mayinclude, at least in part, preventing a process that would cause afailure, including, but not limited to a computer system failure, adevice failure, a network state failure, or some other failure. The stepof causing an action may include, at least in part, isolating, viaquarantine, the computer on which the user interaction occurs andlimiting network access to or from the computer. The step of causing anaction may include, at least in part, reverting a computer softwarestate back to a prior state that is known to be acceptable. The step ofcausing an action may also include, at least in part, disconnecting adevice, such as a peripheral, a thumb drive, a zip drive, a disk drive,or some other device.

In embodiments, the user interaction with a computer may include, but isnot limited to, executing a link, executing an Internet link, executingan intranet link, downloading a content item from a server, forwardingan URL, forwarding an email, opening an application, closing anapplication, updating an application, patching an application,bookmarking a website, placing an VoIP call, adding an item to ashopping cart, entering a financial datum in a field, making a purchase,using a webcam, creating an application macro, an application shortcut,entering a novel keystroke combination, remotely accessing a computer,submitting a password, attaching a peripheral device, a temporal measure(e.g., time spent on a page, or time between a first and second useraction), a change in a network behavior, a change in a firewall setting,a bridging of two previously unconnected networks, or some other type ofuser interaction.

In embodiments, a user interaction with a computer may include anindicator of inactivity, such as activation of a screen saver orhibernation process.

In embodiments, a user interaction may occur on a keyboard, a mouse, adisplay device, a biometric reader, a camera, a scanning device, aprinter a telecommunication component, or some other device or client ofa computer network. The device or client of the computer network may beremotely associated with the computer network, for example a cell phonethat is used to remotely access and interact with the computer network.The methods and systems of the present invention may distinguish betweenbehaviors occurring on remote devices and clients and those behaviorsthat are occurring on devices local to the computer network, such aswired devices and clients.

In embodiments, indication of a code operation may include, but is notlimited to, an automatic code behavior, such as a system startup, login,scheduled job process, system service, or some other type of codeoperation.

The gene may be at least one of: disables OS tools in a registry,disables a firewall in a registry, adds itself to a firewall authorizedapplications list in a registry, injects code into an application,copies itself to a system folder, sets a run key to itself in aregistry, sets a second run key to itself in a registry in a differentlocation, and opens a hidden file with write access. The gene may be atleast one of a system modification and a behavior of process. Thephenotype may be a combination of more than one gene.

These and other systems, methods, objects, features, and advantages ofthe present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and thedrawings. All documents mentioned herein are hereby incorporated intheir entirety by reference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The invention and the following detailed description of certainembodiments thereof may be understood by reference to the followingfigures:

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a threat management facility providingprotection to an enterprise against a plurality of threats.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of a security management facility.

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart for behavioral-based threat detection.

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of a security management facility basedat least in part on monitoring of behavioral and code genes andassociated phenotypes.

FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart summarizing an embodiment of monitoring userinteractions with a computer as part of a security management facility.

While the invention has been described in connection with certainpreferred embodiments, other embodiments would be understood by one ofordinary skill in the art and are encompassed herein.

All documents referenced herein are hereby incorporated by reference.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a threat management facility providingprotection to an enterprise against a plurality of threats. An aspect ofthe present invention relates to corporate policy management andimplementation through a unified threat management facility 100. As willbe explained in more detail below, a threat management facility 100 isused to protect computer assets from many threats, bothcomputer-generated threats and user-generated threats. The threatmanagement facility 100 is multi-dimensional in that it is designed toprotect corporate assets from a variety of threats and it is adapted tolearn about threats in one dimension (e.g. worm detection) and apply theknowledge in another dimension (e.g. spam detection). Corporate policymanagement is one of the dimensions for which the threat managementfacility can control. The corporation may institute a policy thatprevents certain people (e.g. employees, groups of employees, types ofemployees, guest of the corporation, etc.) from accessing certain typesof computer programs. For example, the corporation may elect to preventits accounting department from using a particular version of an instantmessaging service or all such services. In this example, the policymanagement facility 112 may be used to update the policies of allcorporate computing assets with a proper policy control facility or itmay update a select few. By using the threat management facility 100 tofacilitate the setting, updating and control of such policies thecorporation only needs to be concerned with keeping the threatmanagement facility 100 up to date on such policies. The threatmanagement facility 100 can take care of updating all of the othercorporate computing assets.

It should be understood that the threat management facility 100 mayprovide multiple services and policy management may be offered as one ofthe services. We will now turn to a description of the threat managementsystem 100

Over recent years, malware has become a major problem across theinternet 154. From both technical and user perspectives, thecategorization of a specific threat type, whether as virus, worm, spam,phishing exploration, spyware, adware, or the like, is becoming reducedin significance. The threat, no matter how it's categorized, may need tobe stopped at all points of the enterprise facility 102, includinglaptop, desktop, server facility 142, gateway, and the like. Similarly,there may be less and less benefit to the user in having differentsolutions for known and unknown threats. As such, a consolidated threatmanagement facility 100 may need to be applied to the same set oftechnologies and capabilities for all threats. The threat managementfacility 100 may provide a single agent on the desktop, and a singlescan of any suspect file. This approach may eliminate the inevitableoverlaps and gaps in protection caused by treating viruses and spywareas separate problems, while simultaneously simplifying administrationand minimizing desktop load. As the number and range of types of threatshas increased, so may have the level of connectivity available to all ITusers. This may have lead to a rapid increase in the speed at whichthreats may move. Today, an unprotected PC connected to the internet 154may be infected quickly (perhaps within 10 minutes) which may requireacceleration for the delivery of threat protection. Where once monthlyupdates may have been sufficient, the threat management facility 100 mayautomatically and seamlessly update its product set against spam andvirus threats quickly, for instance, every five minutes, every minute,continuously, or the like. Analysis and testing may be increasinglyautomated, and also may be performed more frequently; for instance, itmay be completed in 15 minutes, and may do so without compromisingquality. The threat management facility 100 may also extend techniquesthat may have been developed for virus and malware protection, andprovide them to enterprise facility 102 network administrators to bettercontrol their environments. In addition to stopping malicious code, thethreat management facility 100 may provide policy management that may beable to control legitimate applications, such as VoIP, instantmessaging, peer-to-peer file-sharing, and the like, that may undermineproductivity and network performance within the enterprise facility 102.

The threat management facility 100 may provide an enterprise facility102 protection from computer-based malware, including viruses, spyware,adware, Trojans, intrusion, spam, policy abuse, uncontrolled access, andthe like, where the enterprise facility 102 may be any entity with anetworked computer-based infrastructure. In an embodiment, FIG. 1 maydepict a block diagram of the threat management facility providingprotection to an enterprise against a plurality of threats. Theenterprise facility 102 may be corporate, commercial, educational,governmental, or the like, and the enterprise facility's 102 computernetwork may be distributed amongst a plurality of facilities, and in aplurality of geographical locations. The threat management facility 100may include a plurality of functions, such as security managementfacility 122, policy management facility 112, update facility 120,definitions facility 114, network access rules facility 124, remedialaction facility 128, detection techniques facility 130, testing facility118, threat research facility 132, and the like. In embodiments, thethreat protection provided by the threat management facility 100 mayextend beyond the network boundaries of the enterprise facility 102 toinclude client facility's 144 that have moved into network connectivitynot directly associated or controlled by the enterprise facility 102.Threats to enterprise facility 102 client facilities 144 may come from aplurality of sources, such as from network threats 104, physicalproximity threats 110, secondary location threats 108, and the like. Inembodiments, the threat management facility 100 may provide anenterprise facility 102 protection from a plurality of threats tomultiplatform computer resources in a plurality of locations and networkconfigurations, with an integrated system approach.

In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may be provided as astand-alone solution. In other embodiments, the threat managementfacility 100 may be integrated into a third-party product. Anapplication programming interface (e.g. a source code interface) may beprovided such that the threat management facility 100 may be integrated.For instance, the threat management facility 100 may be stand-alone inthat it provides direct threat protection to an enterprise or computerresource, where protection is subscribed to directly 100. Alternatively,the threat management facility may offer protection indirectly, througha third-party product, where an enterprise may subscribe to servicesthrough the third-party product, and threat protection to the enterprisemay be provided by the threat management facility 100 through thethird-party product.

The security management facility 122 may include a plurality of elementsthat provide protection from malware to enterprise facility 102 computerresources, including endpoint security and control, email security andcontrol, web security and control, reputation-based filtering, controlof unauthorized users, control of guest and non-compliant computers, andthe like. The security management facility 122 may be a softwareapplication that may provide malicious code and malicious applicationprotection to a client facility 144 computing resource. The securitymanagement facility 122 may have the ability to scan the client facility144 files for malicious code, remove or quarantine certain applicationsand files, prevent certain actions, perform remedial actions and performother security measures. In embodiments, scanning the client facility144 may include scanning some or all of the files stored to the clientfacility 144 on a periodic basis, may scan applications once theapplication has been requested to execute, may scan files as the filesare transmitted to or from the client facility 144, or the like. Thescanning of the applications and files may be to detect known maliciouscode or known unwanted applications. In an embodiment, new maliciouscode and unwanted applications may be continually developed anddistributed, and updates to the known code database may be provided on aperiodic basis, on a demand basis, on an alert basis, or the like.

In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may provide foremail security and control, where security management may help toeliminate spam, viruses, spyware and phishing, control of email content,and the like. The security management facilities 122 email security andcontrol may protect against inbound and outbound threats, protect emailinfrastructure, prevent data leakage, provide spam filtering, and thelike. In an embodiment, security management facility 122 may provide forweb security and control, where security management may help to detector block viruses, spyware, malware, unwanted applications, help controlweb browsing, and the like, which may provide comprehensive web accesscontrol enabling safe, productive web browsing. Web security and controlmay provide internet use policies, reporting on suspect devices,security and content filtering, active monitoring of network traffic,URI filtering, and the like. In an embodiment, the security managementfacility 122 may provide for network access control, which may providecontrol over network connections. Network control may stop unauthorized,guest, or non-compliant systems from accessing networks, and may controlnetwork traffic that may not be bypassed from the client level. Inaddition, network access control may control access to virtual privatenetworks (VPN), where VPNs may be a communications network tunneledthrough another network, establishing a logical connection acting as avirtual network. In embodiments, a VPN may be treated in the same manneras a physical network.

In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may provide forhost intrusion prevention through behavioral based protection, which mayguard against unknown threats by analyzing behavior before software codeexecutes. Behavioral based protection may monitor code when it runs andintervene if the code is deemed to be suspicious or malicious.Advantages of behavioral based protection over runtime protection mayinclude code being prevented from running, whereas runtime protectionmay only interrupt code that has already partly executed; behavioralprotection may identify malicious code at the gateway or on the fileservers and deletes it before reaching end-point computers and the like.

In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may provide forreputation filtering, which may target or identify sources of knownmalware. For instance, reputation filtering may include lists of URIs ofknown sources of malware or known suspicious IP addresses, or domains,say for spam, that when detected may invoke an action by the threatmanagement facility 100, such as dropping them immediately. By droppingthe source before any interaction can initiate, potential threat sourcesmay be thwarted before any exchange of data can be made.

In embodiments, information may be sent from the enterprise back to athird party, a vendor, or the like, which may lead to improvedperformance of the threat management facility 100. For example, thetypes, times, and number of virus interactions that a client experiencesmay provide useful information for the preventions of future virusthreats. This type of feedback may be useful for any aspect of threatdetection. Feedback of information may also be associated with behaviorsof individuals within the enterprise, such as being associated with mostcommon violations of policy, network access, unauthorized applicationloading, unauthorized external device use, and the like. In embodiments,this type of information feedback may enable the evaluation or profilingof client actions that are violations of policy that may provide apredictive model for the improvement of enterprise policies.

In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may provide forthe overall security of the enterprise facility 102 network or set ofenterprise facility 102 networks, may provide updates of malicious codeinformation to the enterprise facility 102 network, and associatedclient facilities 144. The updates may be a planned update, an update inreaction to a threat notice, an update in reaction to a request for anupdate, an update based on a search of known malicious code information,or the like. The administration facility 134 may provide control overthe security management facility 122 when updates are performed. Theupdates may be automatically transmitted without an administrationfacility's 134 direct control, manually transmitted by theadministration facility 134, or the like. The security managementfacility 122 may include the management of receiving malicious codedescriptions from a provider, distribution of malicious codedescriptions to enterprise facility 102 networks, distribution ofmalicious code descriptions to client facilities 144, or the like. In anembodiment, the management of malicious code information may be providedto the enterprise facility's 102 network, where the enterprisefacility's 102 network may provide the malicious code informationthrough the enterprise facility's 102 network distribution system.

The threat management facility 100 may provide a policy managementfacility 112 that may be able to block non-malicious applications, suchas VoIP 164, instant messaging 162, peer-to-peer file-sharing, and thelike, that may undermine productivity and network performance within theenterprise facility 102. The policy management facility 112 may be a setof rules or policies that may indicate enterprise facility 102 accesspermissions for the client facility 144, such as access permissionsassociated with the network, applications, external computer devices,and the like. The policy management facility 112 may include a database,a text file, a combination of databases and text files, or the like. Inan embodiment, a policy database may be a block list, a black list, anallowed list, a white list, or the like that may provide a list ofenterprise facility 102 external network locations/applications that mayor may not be accessed by the client facility 144. The policy managementfacility 112 may include rules that may be interpreted with respect toan enterprise facility 102 network access request to determine if therequest should be allowed. The rules may provide a generic rule for thetype of access that may be granted; the rules may be related to thepolicies of an enterprise facility 102 for access rights for theenterprise facility's 102 client facility 144. For example, there may bea rule that does not permit access to sporting websites. When a websiteis requested by the client facility 144, a security facility may accessthe rules within a policy facility to determine if the requested accessis related to a sporting website. In an embodiment, the securityfacility may analyze the requested website to determine if the websitematches with any of the policy facility rules.

The policy management facility 112 may be similar to the securitymanagement facility 122 but with the addition of enterprise facility 102wide access rules and policies that may be distributed to maintaincontrol of client facility 144 access to enterprise facility 102 networkresources. The policies may be defined for application type, subset ofapplication capabilities, organization hierarchy, computer facilitytype, user type, network location, time of day, connection type, or thelike. Policies may be maintained by the administration facility 134,through the threat management facility 100, in association with a thirdparty, or the like. For example, a policy may restrict IM 162 activityto only support personnel for communicating with customers. This mayallow communication for departments requiring access, but may maintainthe network bandwidth for other activities by restricting the use of IM162 to only the personnel that need access to IM 162 in support of theenterprise facility 102. In an embodiment, the policy managementfacility 112 may be a stand-alone application, may be part of thenetwork server facility 142, may be part of the enterprise facility 102network, may be part of the client facility 144, or the like.

In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may provideconfiguration management, which may be similar to policy management, butmay specifically examine the configuration set of applications,operating systems, hardware, and the like, and managing changes to theirconfigurations. Assessment of a configuration may be made against astandard configuration policy, detection of configuration changes,remediation of improper configuration, application of newconfigurations, and the like. An enterprise may keep a set of standardconfiguration rules and policies which may represent the desired stateof the device. For example, a client firewall may be running andinstalled, but in the disabled state, where remediation may be to enablethe firewall. In another example, the enterprise may set a rule thatdisallows the use of USB disks, and sends a configuration change to allclients, which turns off USB drive access via a registry.

In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may also provide forthe removal of applications that may interfere with the operation of thethreat management facility 100, such as competitor products that mayalso be attempting similar threat management functions. The removal ofsuch products may be initiated automatically whenever such products aredetected. In the case where such applications are services are providedindirectly through a third-party product, the application may besuspended until action is taken to remove or disable the third-partyproduct's protection facility.

Threat management against a sometimes quickly evolving malwareenvironment may require timely updates, and the update managementfacility 120 may be provided by the threat management facility 100. Inaddition, a policy management facility 112 may also require updatemanagement (e.g. as provided by the update facility 120 hereindescribed), as the enterprise facility 102 requirements for policieschange enterprise facility 102, client facility 144, server facility 142enterprise facility 102. The update management for the security facility122 and policy management facility 112 may be provided directly by thethreat management facility 100, such as by a hosted system or inconjunction with the administration facility 134. In embodiments, thethreat management facility 100 may provide for patch management, where apatch may be an update to an operating system, an application, a systemtool, or the like, where one of the reasons for the patch is to reducevulnerability to threats.

In embodiments, the security facility 122 and policy management facility112 may push information to the enterprise facility 102 network and/orclient facility 144, the enterprise facility 102 network and/or clientfacility 144 may pull information from the security facility 122 andpolicy management facility 112 network server facilities 142, there maybe a combination of pushing and pulling of information between thesecurity facility 122 and the policy management facility 112 networkservers 142, enterprise facility 102 network, and client facilities 144,or the like. For example, the enterprise facility 102 network and/orclient facility 144 may pull information from the security facility 122and policy management facility 112 network server facility 142 mayrequest the information using the security facility 122 and policymanagement facility 112 update module; the request may be based on acertain time period, by a certain time, by a date, on demand, or thelike. In another example, the security facility 122 and policymanagement facility 112 network servers 142 may push the information tothe enterprise facility's 102 network and/or client facility 144 byproviding notification that there are updates available for download andthen transmitting the information. The combination of the securitymanagement 122 network server facility 142 and security update modulemay function substantially the same as the policy management facility112 network server and policy update module by providing information tothe enterprise facility 102 network and the client facility 144 in apush or pull method. In an embodiment, the policy management facility112 and the security facility 122 management update modules may work inconcert to provide all the needed information to the enterprisefacility's 102 network and/or client facility 144 for control ofapplication execution. In an embodiment, the policy update module andsecurity update module may be combined into a single update module.

As threats are identified and characterized, the threat managementfacility 100 may create definition updates that may be used to allow thethreat management facility 100 to detect and remediate the latestmalicious software, unwanted applications, configuration and policychanges, and the like. The threat definition facility 114 may containthreat identification updates, also referred to as definition files. Adefinition file may be a virus identity file that may includedefinitions of known or potential malicious code. The virus identity(IDE) definition files may provide information that may identifymalicious code within files, applications, or the like. The definitionfiles may be accessed by security management facility 122 when scanningfiles or applications within the client facility 144 for thedetermination of malicious code that may be within the file orapplication. The definition files may contain a number of commands,definitions, or instructions, to be parsed and acted upon, or the like.In embodiments, the client facility 144 may be updated with newdefinition files periodically to provide the client facility 144 withthe most recent malicious code definitions; the updating may beperformed on a set time period, may be updated on demand from the clientfacility 144, may be updated on demand from the network, may be updatedon a received malicious code alert, or the like. In an embodiment, theclient facility 144 may request an update to the definition files froman update facility 120 within the network, may request updateddefinition files from a computing facility external to the network,updated definition files may be provided to the client facility 114 fromwithin the network, definition files may be provided to the clientfacility 144 from an external computing facility from an externalnetwork, or the like.

In an embodiment, a definition management facility 114 may provide forthe timely updates of definition files information to the network,client facilities 144, and the like. New and altered malicious code andmalicious applications may be continually created and distributed tonetworks worldwide. The definition files that maintain the definitionsof the malicious code and malicious application information for theprotection of the networks and client facilities 144 may need continualupdating to provide continual defense of the network and client facility144 from the malicious code and malicious applications. The definitionfiles management may provide for automatic and manual methods ofupdating the definition files. In embodiments, the network may receivedefinition files and distribute the definition files to the networkclient facilities 144, the client facilities 144 may receive thedefinition files directly, or the network and client facilities 144 mayboth receive the definition files, or the like. In an embodiment, thedefinition files may be updated on a fixed periodic basis, on demand bythe network and/or the client facility 144, as a result of an alert of anew malicious code or malicious application, or the like. In anembodiment, the definition files may be released as a supplemental fileto an existing definition files to provide for rapid updating of thedefinition files.

In a similar manner, the security management facility 122 may be used toscan an outgoing file and verify that the outgoing file is permitted tobe transmitted per the enterprise facility 102 rules and policies. Bychecking outgoing files, the security management facility 122 may beable discover malicious code infected files that were not detected asincoming files as a result of the client facility 144 having beenupdated with either new definition files or policy management facility112 information. The definition files may discover the malicious codeinfected file by having received updates of developing malicious codefrom the administration facility 134, updates from a definition filesprovider, or the like. The policy management facility 112 may discoverthe malicious code infected file by having received new updates from theadministration facility 134, from a rules provider, or the like.

The threat management facility 100 may provide for a way to controlaccess to the enterprise facility 102 networks. For instance, theenterprise facility 102 may want to restrict access to certainapplications, networks, files, printers, servers, databases, or thelike. In addition, the enterprise facility 102 may want to restrict useraccess under certain conditions, such as the user's location, usagehistory, need to know, job position, connection type, time of day,method of authentication, client-system configuration, or the like.Network access rules may be developed by the enterprise facility 102, orpre-packaged by a supplier, and managed by the threat managementfacility 100 in conjunction with the administration facility 134.Network access rules and control may be responsible for determining if aclient facility 144 application should be granted access to a requestednetwork location. The network location may be on the same network as thefacility or may be on another network. In an embodiment, the networkaccess control may verify access rights for client facilities 144 fromwithin the network or may verify access rights of computer facilitiesfrom external networks. When network access for a client facility 144 isdenied, the network access control may send an information file to theclient facility 144, the information file may contain data or commandsthat may provide instructions for the remedial action facility 128. Theinformation sent by the network access facility 124 control may be adata file. The data file may contain a number of commands, definitions,instructions, or commands to be parsed and acted upon through theremedial action facility 128, or the like. The information sent by thenetwork access facility 124 control may be a command or command filethat the remedial action facility 128 may access and take action upon.

In an embodiment, the network access rules 124 may provide aninformation store to be accessed by the network access control. Thenetwork access rules facility 124 may include databases such as a blocklist, a black list, an allowed list, a white list, an unacceptablenetwork site database, an acceptable network site database, a networksite reputation database, or the like of network access locations thatmay or may not be accessed by the client facility 144. Additionally, thenetwork access rules facility 124 may incorporate rule evaluation; therule evaluation may parse network access requests and apply the parsedinformation to network access rules. The network access rule facility124 may have a generic set of rules that may be in support of anenterprise facility's 102 network access policies, such as denyingaccess to certain types of websites 158, controlling instant messenger162 accesses, or the like. Rule evaluation may include regularexpression rule evaluation, or other rule evaluation method forinterpreting the network access request and comparing the interpretationto the established rules for network access. In an embodiment, thenetwork access rules facility 124 may receive a rules evaluation requestfrom the network access control and may return the rules evaluation tothe network access control.

Similar to the threat definitions facility 114, the network access rulefacility 124 may provide updated rules and policies to the enterprisefacility 102. The network access rules facility 124 may be maintained bythe network administration facility 134, using network access rulesfacility 124 management. In an embodiment, the network administrationfacility 134 may be able to maintain a set of access rules manually byadding rules, changing rules, deleting rules, or the like. Additionally,the administration facility 134 may be able to retrieve predefined rulesets from a provider that may provide a set of rules to be applied to anentire enterprise facility 102. The network administration facility 134may be able to modify the predefined rules as needed for a particularenterprise facility 102 using the network access rules managementfacility 124.

When a threat or policy violation is detected by the threat managementfacility 100, the threat management facility 100 may provide for aremedial action facility 128. Remedial action may take a plurality offorms, such as terminating or modifying an ongoing process orinteraction, sending a warning to a client or administration facility134 of an ongoing process or interaction, executing a program orapplication to remediate against a threat or violation, recordinteractions for subsequent evaluation, or the like. Remedial action maybe associated with an application that responds to information that aclient facility 144 network access request has been denied. In anembodiment, when the data file is received, remedial action may parsethe data file, interpret the various aspects of the data file, and acton the parsed data file information to determine actions to be taken onan application requesting access to a denied network location. In anembodiment, when the data file is received, remedial action may accessthe threat definitions to parse the data file and determine an action tobe taken on an application requesting access to a denied networklocation. In an embodiment, the information received from the facilitymay be a command or a command file. The remedial action facility maycarry out any commands that are received or parsed from a data file fromthe facility without performing any interpretation of the commands. Inan embodiment, the remedial action facility may interact with thereceived information and may perform various actions on a clientrequesting access to a denied network location. The action may be one ormore of continuing to block all requests to a denied network location, amalicious code scan on the application, a malicious code scan on theclient facility 144, quarantine of the application, terminating theapplication, isolation of the application, isolation of the clientfacility 144 to a location within the network that restricts networkaccess, blocking a network access port from a client facility 144,reporting the application to a administration facility 134, or the like.

Remedial action may be provided as a result of a detection of a threator violation. The detection techniques facility 130 may includemonitoring the enterprise facility 102 network or end-point devices,such as by monitoring streaming data through the gateway, across thenetwork, through routers and hubs, and the like. The detectiontechniques facility 130 may include monitoring activity and stored fileson computing facilities, such as on server facilities 142, desktopcomputers, laptop computers, other mobile computing devices, and thelike. Detection techniques, such as scanning a computer's stored files,may provide the capability of checking files for stored threats, eitherin the active or passive state. Detection techniques, such as streamingfile management, may provide the capability of checking files receivedat the network, gateway facility, client facility 144, and the like.This may provide the capability of not allowing a streaming file orportions of the streaming file containing malicious code from enteringthe client facility 144, gateway facility, or network. In an embodiment,the streaming file may be broken into blocks of information, and aplurality of virus identities may be used to check each of the blocks ofinformation for malicious code. In an embodiment, any blocks that arenot determined to be clear of malicious code may not be delivered to theclient facility 144, gateway facility, or network.

Verifying that the threat management facility 100 is detecting threatsand violations to established policy, may require the ability to testthe system, either at the system level or for a particular computingcomponent. The testing facility 118 may allow the administrationfacility 134 to coordinate the testing of the security configurations ofclient facility 144 computing facilities on a network. Theadministration facility 134 may be able to send test files to a set ofclient facility 144 computing facilities to test the ability of theclient facility 144 to determine acceptability of the test file. Afterthe test file has been transmitted, a recording facility may record theactions taken by the client facility 144 in reaction to the test file.The recording facility may aggregate the testing information from theclient facility 144 and report the testing information to theadministration facility 134. The administration facility 134 may be ableto determine the level of preparedness of the client facility 144computing facilities by the reported information. Remedial action may betaken for any of the client facility 144 computing facilities asdetermined by the administration facility 134; remedial action may betaken by the administration facility 134 or by the user of the clientfacility 144.

The threat research facility 132 may provide a continuously ongoingeffort to maintain the threat protection capabilities of the threatmanagement facility 100 in light of continuous generation of new orevolved forms of malware. Threat research may include researchers andanalysts working on known and emerging malware, such as viruses,rootkits a spyware, as well as other computer threats such as phishing,spam, scams, and the like. In embodiments, through threat research, thethreat management facility 100 may be able to provide swift, globalresponses to the latest threats.

The threat management facility 100 may provide threat protection to theenterprise facility 102, where the enterprise facility 102 may include aplurality of networked components, such as client facility 144, serverfacility 142, administration facility 134, firewall 138, gateway, hubsand routers 148, threat management appliance 140, desktop users, mobileusers, and the like. In embodiments, it may be the end-point computersecurity facility 152, located on a computer's desktop, which mayprovide threat protection to a user, and associated enterprise facility102. In embodiments, the term end-point may refer to a computer systemthat may source data, receive data, evaluate data, buffer data, or thelike (such as a user's desktop computer as an end-point computer), afirewall as a data evaluation end-point computer system, a laptop as amobile end-point computer, a PDA as a hand-held end-point computer. Inembodiments, end-point may refer to a source or destination for data,including such components where the destination is characterized by anevaluation point for data, and where the data may be sent to asubsequent destination after evaluation. The end-point computer securityfacility 152 may be an application loaded onto the computer platform orcomputer support component, where the application may accommodate theplurality of computer platforms and/or functional requirements of thecomponent. For instance, a client facility 144 computer may be one of aplurality of computer platforms, such as Windows, Macintosh, Linux, andthe like, where the end-point computer security facility 152 may beadapted to the specific platform, while maintaining a uniform productand product services across platforms. Additionally, components may havedifferent functions to serve within the enterprise facility's 102networked computer-based infrastructure. For instance, computer supportcomponents provided as hubs and routers 148, server facility 142,firewalls 138, and the like, may require unique security applicationsoftware to protect their portion of the system infrastructure, whileproviding an element in an integrated threat management system thatextends out beyond the threat management facility 100 to incorporate allcomputer resources under its protection.

The enterprise facility 102 may include a plurality of client facility144 computing platforms on which the end-point computer securityfacility 152 is adapted. A client facility 144 computing platform may bea computer system that is able to access a service on another computer,such as a server facility 142, via a network. This client facility 144server facility 142 model may apply to a plurality of networkedapplications, such as a client facility 144 connecting to an enterprisefacility 102 application server facility 142, a web browser clientfacility 144 connecting to a web server facility 142, an e-mail clientfacility 144 retrieving e-mail from an internet 154 service provider'smail storage servers 142, and the like. In embodiments, traditionallarge client facility 144 applications may be switched to websites,which may increase the browser's role as a client facility 144. Clients144 may be classified as a function of the extent to which they performtheir own processing. For instance, client facilities 144 are sometimesclassified as a fat client facility 144 or thin client facility 144. Thefat client facility 144, also known as a thick client facility 144 orrich client facility 144, may be a client facility 144 that performs thebulk of data processing operations itself, and does not necessarily relyon the server facility 142. The fat client facility 144 may be mostcommon in the form of a personal computer, where the personal computermay operate independent of any server facility 142. Programmingenvironments for fat clients 144 may include CURL Delphi, Droplets,Java, win32, X11, and the like. Thin clients 144 may offer minimalprocessing capabilities, for instance, the thin client facility 144 mayprimarily provide a graphical user interface provided by an applicationserver facility 142, which may perform the bulk of any required dataprocessing. Programming environments for thin clients 144 may includeJavaScript/AJAX, ASP, JSP, Ruby on Rails, Python's Django, PHP, and thelike. The client facility 144 may also be a mix of the two, such asprocessing data locally, but relying on a server facility 142 for datastorage. As a result, this hybrid client facility 144 may providebenefits from both the fat client facility 144 type, such as multimediasupport and high performance, and the thin client facility 144 type,such as high manageability and flexibility. In embodiments, the threatmanagement facility 100, and associated end-point computer securityfacility 152, may provide seamless threat protection to the plurality ofclients 144, and client facility 144 types, across the enterprisefacility 102.

The enterprise facility 102 may include a plurality of server facilities142, such as application servers, communications servers, file servers,database servers, proxy servers, mail servers, fax servers, gameservers, web servers, and the like. A server facility 142, which mayalso be referred to as a server facility 142 application, serverfacility 142 operating system, server facility 142 computer, or thelike, may be an application program or operating system that acceptsclient facility 144 connections in order to service requests fromclients 144. The server facility 142 application may run on the samecomputer as the client facility 144 using it, or the server facility 142and the client facility 144 may be running on different computers andcommunicating across the network. Server facility 142 applications maybe divided among server facility 142 computers, with the dividingdepending upon the workload. For instance, under light load conditionsall server facility 142 applications may run on a single computer andunder heavy load conditions a single server facility 142 application mayrun on multiple computers. In embodiments, the threat managementfacility 100 may provide threat protection to server facilities 142within the enterprise facility 102 as load conditions and applicationchanges are made.

A server facility 142 may also be an appliance facility 140, where theappliance facility 140 provides specific services onto the network.Though the appliance facility 140 is a server facility 142 computer,that may be loaded with a server facility 142 operating system andserver facility 142 application, the enterprise facility 102 user maynot need to configure it, as the configuration may have been performedby a third party. In an embodiment, an enterprise facility 102 appliancemay be a server facility 142 appliance that has been configured andadapted for use with the threat management facility 100, and locatedwithin the facilities of the enterprise facility 102. The enterprisefacility's 102 threat management appliance may enable the enterprisefacility 102 to administer an on-site local managed threat protectionconfiguration, where the administration facility 134 may access thethreat resources through an interface, such as a web portal. In analternate embodiment, the enterprise facility 102 may be managedremotely from a third party, vendor, or the like, without an appliancefacility 140 located within the enterprise facility 102. In thisinstance, the appliance functionality may be a shared hardware productbetween pluralities of enterprises 102. In embodiments, the appliancefacility 140 may be located at the enterprise facility 102, where theenterprise facility 102 maintains a degree of control. In embodiments, ahosted service may be provided, where the appliance 140 may still be anon-site black box to the enterprise facility 102, physically placedthere because of infrastructure requirements, but managed by a thirdparty, vendor, or the like.

Simple server facility 142 appliances may also be utilized across theenterprise facility's 102 network infrastructure, such as switches,routers, wireless routers, hubs and routers, gateways, print servers,net modems, and the like. These simple server facility appliances maynot require configuration by the enterprise facility 102, but mayrequire protection from threats via an end-point computer securityfacility 152. These appliances may provide interconnection serviceswithin the enterprise facility 102 network, and therefore may advancethe spread of a threat if not properly protected.

One way for a client facility 144 to be protected from threats fromwithin the enterprise facility 102 network may be a personal firewall. Apersonal firewall may be an application that controls network traffic toand from a client, permitting or denying communications based on asecurity policy. Personal firewalls may be designed for use byend-users, which may result in protection for only the computer on whichit's installed. Personal firewalls may be able to control networktraffic by providing prompts each time a connection is attempted andadapting security policy accordingly. Personal firewalls may alsoprovide some level of intrusion detection, which may allow the softwareto terminate or block connectivity where it suspects an intrusion isbeing attempted. Other features that may be provided by a personalfirewall may include alerts about outgoing connection attempts, controlof program access to networks, hiding the client from port scans by notresponding to unsolicited network traffic, monitoring of applicationsthat may be listening for incoming connections, monitoring andregulation of incoming and outgoing network traffic, prevention ofunwanted network traffic from installed applications, reportingapplications that make connection attempts, reporting destinationservers with which applications may be attempting communications, andthe like. In embodiments, the personal firewall may be provided by thethreat management facility 100.

Another important component that may be protected by an end-pointcomputer security facility 152 is a network firewall facility 138, whichmay be a hardware or software device that may be configured to permit,deny, or proxy data through a computer network that has different levelsof trust in its source of data. For instance, an internal enterprisefacility 102 network may have a high level of trust, because the sourceof all data has been sourced from within the enterprise facility 102. Anexample of a low level of trust is the Internet 154, because the sourceof data may be unknown. A zone with an intermediate trust level,situated between the Internet 154 and a trusted internal network, may bereferred to as a “perimeter network”. Since firewall facilities 138represent boundaries between threat levels, the end-point computersecurity facility 152 associated with the firewall facility 138 mayprovide resources that may control the flow of threats at thisenterprise facility 102 network entry point. Firewall facilities 138,and associated end-point computer security facility 152, may also beassociated with a network node that may be equipped for interfacingbetween networks that use different protocols. In embodiments, theend-point computer security facility 152 may provide threat protectionin a plurality of network infrastructure locations, such as at theenterprise facility 102 network entry point, i.e. the firewall facility138 or gateway; at the server facility 142; at distribution pointswithin the network, i.e. the hubs and routers 148; at the desktop ofclient facility 144 computers; and the like. In embodiments, the mosteffective location for threat detection may be at the user's computerdesktop end-point computer security facility 152.

The interface between the threat management facility 100 and theenterprise facility 102, and through the appliance facility 140 toembedded end-point computer security facilities, may include a set oftools that may be the same for all enterprise implementations, but alloweach enterprise to implement different controls. In embodiments, thesecontrols may include both automatic actions and managed actions.Automatic actions may include downloads of the end-point computersecurity facility 152 to components of the enterprise facility 102,downloads of updates to existing end-point computer security facilitiesof the enterprise facility 102, uploaded network interaction requestsfrom enterprise facility 102 components to the threat managementfacility 100, and the like. In embodiments, automatic interactionsbetween the enterprise facility 102 and the threat management facility100 may be configured by the threat management facility 100 and anadministration facility 134 in the enterprise facility 102. Theadministration facility 134 may configure policy rules that determineinteractions, such as developing rules for accessing applications, as inwho is authorized and when applications may be used; establishing rulesfor ethical behavior and activities; rules governing the use ofentertainment software such as games, or personal use software such asIM 162 and VoIP 164; rules for determining access to enterprise facility102 computing resources, including authentication, levels of access,risk assessment, and usage history tracking; rules for when an action isnot allowed, such as whether an action is completely deigned or justmodified in its execution; and the like. The administration facility 134may also establish license management, which in turn may furtherdetermine interactions associated with a licensed application. Inembodiments, interactions between the threat management facility 100 andthe enterprise facility 102 may provide threat protection to theenterprise facility 102 by managing the flow of network data into andout of the enterprise facility 102 through automatic actions that may beconfigured by the threat management facility 100 or the administrationfacility 134.

Client facilities 144 within the enterprise facility 102 may beconnected to the enterprise facility 102 network by way of wired networkfacilities 148A or wireless network facilities 148B. Client facilities144 connected to the enterprise facility 102 network via a wiredfacility 148A or wireless facility 148B may receive similar protection,as both connection types are ultimately connected to the same enterprisefacility 102 network, with the same end-point computer security facility152, and the same threat protected enterprise facility 102 environment.Mobile wireless facility clients 144B-F, because of their ability toconnect to any wireless 148B,D network access point, may connect to theinternet 154 outside the enterprise facility 102, and therefore outsidethe threat-protected environment of the enterprise facility 102. In thisinstance the mobile client facility 144B-F, if not for the presence ofthe end-point computer security facility 152 may experience a malwareattack or perform actions counter to enterprise facility 102 establishedpolicies. In addition, there may be a plurality of ways for the threatmanagement facility 100 to protect the out-of-enterprise facility 102mobile client facility 144D-F that has an embedded end-point computersecurity facility 152, such as by providing URI filtering in personalrouters, using a web appliance as a DNS proxy, or the like. Mobileclient facilities 144D-F that are components of the enterprise facility102 but temporarily outside connectivity with the enterprise facility102 network, may be provided with the same threat protection and policycontrol as client facilities 144 inside the enterprise facility 102. Inaddition, mobile client facilities 144B-F may receive the sameinteractions to and from the threat management facility 100 as clientfacilities 144 inside the enterprise facility 102, where mobile clientfacilities 144B-F may be considered a virtual extension of theenterprise facility 102, receiving all the same services via theirembedded end-point computer security facility 152.

Interactions between the threat management facility 100 and thecomponents of the enterprise facility 102, including mobile clientfacility 144B-F extensions of the enterprise facility 102, mayultimately be connected through the internet 154. Threat managementfacility 100 downloads and upgrades to the enterprise facility 102 maybe passed from the firewalled networks of the threat management facility100 through to the end-point computer security facility 152 equippedcomponents of the enterprise facility 102. In turn the end-pointcomputer security facility 152 components of the enterprise facility 102may upload policy and access requests back across the internet 154 andthrough to the threat management facility 100. The Internet 154 however,is also the path through which threats may be transmitted from theirsource. These network threats may include threats from a plurality ofsources, including websites 158, e-mail 160, IM 162, VoIP 164,application software, and the like. These threats may attempt to attacka mobile enterprise client facility 144B-F equipped with an end-pointcomputer security facility 152, but in embodiments, as long as themobile client facility 144B-F is embedded with an end-point computersecurity facility 152, as described above, threats may have no bettersuccess than if the mobile client facility 144B-F were inside theenterprise facility 102.

However, if the mobile client facility 144 were to attempt to connectinto an unprotected connection point, such as at a secondary location108 that is not a part of the enterprise facility 102, the mobile clientfacility 144 may be required to request network interactions through thethreat management facility 100, where contacting the threat managementfacility 100 may be performed prior to any other network action. Inembodiments, the client facility's 144 end-point computer securityfacility 152 may manage actions in unprotected network environments suchas when the client facility 144F is in a secondary location 108 orconnecting wirelessly to a non-enterprise facility 102 wireless internetconnection, where the end-point computer security facility 152 maydictate what actions are allowed, blocked, modified, or the like. Forinstance, if the client facility's 144 end-point computer securityfacility 152 is unable to establish a secured connection to the threatmanagement facility 100, the end-point computer security facility 152may inform the user of such, and recommend that the connection not bemade. In the instance when the user chooses to connect despite therecommendation, the end-point computer security facility 152 may performspecific actions during or after the unprotected connection is made,including running scans during the connection period, running scansafter the connection is terminated, storing interactions for subsequentthreat and policy evaluation, contacting the threat management facility100 upon first instance of a secured connection for further actions andor scanning, restricting access to network and local resources, or thelike. In embodiments, the end-point computer security facility 152 mayperform specific actions to remediate possible threat incursions orpolicy violations during or after the unprotected connection.

The secondary location 108 may have no end-point computer securityfacilities 152 as a part of its computer components, such as itsfirewalls 138B, servers 142B, clients 144G, hubs and routers 148C-D, andthe like. As a result, the computer components of the secondary location108 may be open to threat attacks, and become potential sources ofthreats, as well as any mobile enterprise facility clients 144B-F thatmay be connected to the secondary location's 108 network. In thisinstance, these computer components may now unknowingly spread a threatto other components connected to the network.

Some threats may not come directly from the Internet 154, such as fromnon-enterprise facility controlled mobile devices that are physicallybrought into the enterprise facility 102 and connected to the enterprisefacility 102 client facilities 144. The connection may be made fromdirect connection with the enterprise facility's 102 client facility144, such as through a USB port, or in physical proximity with theenterprise facility's 102 client facility 144 such that a wirelessfacility connection can be established, such as through a Bluetoothconnection. These physical proximity threats 110 may be another mobilecomputing device, a portable memory storage device, a mobilecommunications device, or the like, such as CDs and DVDs 170, memorystick 174, flash drive 174, external hard drive, cell phone 178, PDAs180, MP3 players, digital cameras, point-to-point devices, digitalpicture frames, digital pens, navigation devices, appliances, and thelike. A physical proximity threat 110 may have been previouslyinfiltrated by network threats while connected to an unprotected networkconnection outside the enterprise facility 102, and when connected tothe enterprise facility 102 client facility 144, pose a threat. Becauseof their mobile nature, physical proximity threats 110 may infiltratecomputing resources in any location, such as being physically broughtinto the enterprise facility 102 site, connected to an enterprisefacility 102 client facility 144 while that client facility 144 ismobile, plugged into an unprotected client facility 144 at a secondarylocation 108, and the like. A mobile device, once connected to anunprotected computer resource, may become a physical proximity threat110. In embodiments, the end-point computer security facility 152 mayprovide enterprise facility 102 computing resources with threatprotection against physical proximity threats 110, for instance, throughscanning the device prior to allowing data transfers, through securityvalidation certificates, through establishing a safe zone within theenterprise facility 102 computing resource to transfer data into forevaluation, and the like.

Now that the overall system has been described, we turn towards a set ofbehavioral-based protection embodiments. It should be understood thatthe following embodiments may be managed through a threat managementfacility 100 along with other services, such as those described herein.

The host intrusion prevention system (HIPS) 200 may be designed toincrease the level of specificity of detection, such that detailedremediation can occur and an administrator can relate the maliciousbehavior back to a specific detailed threat analysis as with existingcontent analysis systems. Existing behavioral systems are taxed by therequirement to create exceptions and authorizations to managed unwanteddetections in an environment—HIPS 200 also serves to eliminate orre-classify (and thus treat with a separate policy workflow more suitedto the level of confidence of detection) these less definitivedetections enabling administrators to enable the technology with farless disruption and decision making.

Referring to FIG. 2, the security management facility 122 may comprise ahost intrusion prevention system 200 which may provide behavioral-basedprotection through a behavior monitor facility 204. The behaviormonitoring facility 204 may guard against unknown threats by analyzingbehavior at runtime for executing software code 202. HIPS 200 may enablethe assignment and temporary storage of Behavioral Genotype data againstprocesses currently running, in order to construct a sequence of runtimebehaviors. Matching this runtime genotype data with known combinationsstored in the phenotype database 224, with or without an additionalcontent analysis 222, may enable the identification and interruption ofmalware while it is executing. By matching combinations of behaviors inthis way, detection of malware may be improved over solutions where onlysingular behaviors and a static content analysis is utilized.

In an embodiment, behaviors may be observed during the execution of codefor an indication of malicious behavior. The behavior monitoringfacility 204 may monitor the executing code to identify 208 and collect210 genes as well as identify phenotypes 212. Certain systemmodifications or behaviors, also known as genes (230-242), may beidentified 208 in the executing code. The indication of the maliciousbehavior may be a result of comparing an operation of the executing codewith a predetermined behavior, such as a gene stored for reference in agene database 248. A plurality of malicious behavior indications may becollected in this fashion by comparing a behavior of an executing codewith a predetermined behavior. Genes may continue to be identifiedprogressively over the entire course of a code execution so that at anytime during execution, the behavior monitor facility 204 may match anobserved phenotype with one stored in a phenotype database 224.Progressive monitoring of behaviors is beneficial as it avoids tricksfrom malware where they attempt to evade heuristic environments withtiming attacks. At some point, if the code is determined to benon-malicious, the behavior monitor facility may discontinue searchingfor genes.

As genes are identified 208 in the executing process, the genes may becollected 210 into a gene collection and may be associated as aphenotype 228,238 that may include the identified genes or operatingprocesses. For example, in FIG. 2, phenotype I 228 comprises Gene A 230,Gene D 232, and Gene F 234. Likewise, phenotype II 238 comprises Gene B240, Gene C 242, and Gene F 234. Even though the phenotypes 228, 238share a common gene, Gene F 234, phenotype identification 212 may behandled on the basis of the phenotype as a whole, so phenotype I 228 maybe treated differently from phenotype II 238, both in terms of phenotypeidentification 212 and post-identification actions 214.

Certain malicious code may be identified via a combination of behaviors,wherein the combination of behaviors is known as a phenotype. Aphenotype may be a predetermined collection of malicious behaviors whichmay include a grouping of specific genes that are typically present in atype or family of malicious code. The behavior monitoring facility 204may be able to identify a phenotype 212 of behaviors in an executingcode by comparing a collection of observed behaviors with thepredetermined collections of known malicious behaviors stored asphenotypes in a phenotype database 224, either temporarily or for alonger term. Phenotypes may capture a combination or a series ofbehaviors that may be ranked to create increasing levels of confidencethat the runtime object being monitored is executing a behavior patterncomparable to a known family of malware. The predetermined collectionsof behaviors, or phenotypes, may be created based on scaled analysis offamilies of malware in runtime, such as in a threat research facility132 of a threat management facility 100. Including greater combinationsof behaviors in the phenotype database 224 may enable more detailedanalysis of a suspicious code. For example, an analysis of a suspiciouscode may be moved from ‘Accessing the registry in this location is bad’to ‘This process is exhibiting the same behavior as the family ofmalware Conficker’ based on a comparison of a detected phenotype with anexisting phenotype. This more detailed analysis may eliminate manyunwanted detections as the probability of a legitimate applicationattempting to execute a series of bad behaviors is significantly lower.Equally, this more specific detection of the family of malware mayenable clean up to be called that can look for other known components ofthe threat, thus enabling a more comprehensive clean up rather than asimple process killing.

Content analysis 222 may be combined with phenotype identification 212to enable more detailed content analysis 222 to occur based on triggers,avoiding the need for filtering during threat detection and providingadditional context to augment subsequent content analysis 122. Forexample, an executable could be analyzed and found to be legitimateaccording to a pragmatic (or realistic) data set balanced forperformance. As this threat executes, the tree of chains of badbehaviors would be evaluated and genes set to record the results. Thesegenes may reveal malicious behavior, as they may be part of a phenotypethat may be linked to a specific family of malware. The system wouldthen trigger a secondary static analysis where additional contentanalysis 222 functions would be enabled based on the combination ofgenes that were previously marked. The type of content analysis that istriggered may be based on the phenotype. For example, a phenotype maypredict membership of a process in malware family A and content analysisspecific to malware family A is triggered. By combining content analysis222 with the behavioral-based protection provided by the HIPS 200, amore detailed analysis balancing performance and providing greaterdetection accuracy may be enabled.

The behavior monitoring facility 204, as well as the HIPS 202, may besoftware resident on an endpoint. The behavior monitoring facility 204may monitor executing code and processes, such as access to resources,API calls, registry access, process manipulation, file system access,and the like, in run time by hooking the process and other suchresources. Based on the results of the behavior monitor facility 204, ifthe executing code is deemed to be suspicious or malicious, an action214 may be caused to occur based on a prediction that the executing codeis the type of malicious code as indicated by the phenotype. Forexample, code execution may be halted 218, a remedial action 220 may betaken, a content analysis 222 may be performed on the executing code oron a file produced by the executing code, the code execution may bepaused while content analysis occurs, and the like. A remedial action220 may be specific to the kind of malicious code, such as the patchingof specific exploits that are indicated by the chain of behaviorobserved. The content analysis may involve at least one of a genotype, ahashing, a partial matching (identifying specific attributes at a knownlocations in the file or as offsets from identifiers), an emulation, andan interpretation and tokenisation, including lossy refactoring.

In an example, the behavior monitoring facility 204 may monitorbehaviors associated with the W32/Sality executable file virus. Thebehaviors monitored may be: disables OS tools in the registry, disablesthe MS windows firewall in the registry, adds itself to the firewallauthorised applications list in the registry, and injects code intoexplorer.exe. The behavioral monitoring facility 204 would set runtimegenes associated with these behaviors and the phenotype would be thecombination of those runtime genes, not necessarily in order. In somephenotypes, the order of observed behaviors could be a part of theidentification while in others it would not. If necessary some staticgenes may also be checked at the same time to further verify that thisis actually Sality. The appropriate cleanup routine may then be offeredby the HIPS 200 when this phenotype is identified in an executing code.

In another example, the behavior monitoring facility 204 may monitorbehaviors associated with the W32/AutoRun worm. The behaviors monitoredmay be: copies itself to system folder, sets a run key to itself in theregistry, sets a second run key to itself in the registry in a differentlocation, disables OS tools in the registry, and opens a hidden filewith name Autorun.inf with write access.

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart for behavioral-based threat detection. Atstep 302, an executing computer process is monitored for an indicationof malicious behavior, wherein the indication of the malicious behavioris a result of comparing an operation with a predetermined behavior,referred to as a gene. At step 304, a plurality of malicious behaviorindications are collected by performing step 302 a number of times. Atstep 308, the plurality of malicious behavior indications are comparedto a predetermined collection of malicious behaviors, referred to as aphenotype, which comprises a grouping of specific genes that aretypically present in a type of malicious code. At step 310, an action iscaused based on a prediction that the executing computer process is thetype of malicious code as indicated by the phenotype.

In embodiments of the present invention, a behavioral-basedhost-intrusion prevention method and system may be used for monitoring auser interaction with a computer, software application, operatingsystem, graphic user interface, or some other component or client of acomputer network, and performing an action to protect the computernetwork based at least in part on the user interaction. Such protectionmay be provided based at least in part by monitoring a user interactionwith a computer, and/or computer network client device, during a usagesession for an indication of a user behavior and monitoring a computercode process executing during the usage session for an indication of acode operation. The indication of the user behavior may be a result ofcomparing the user interaction, or plurality of user interactions, witha predetermined behavior (hereinafter, a “behavioral gene”). Forexample, markers of user behaviors with a computer or client device of acomputer network may be monitored, recorded, stored, classified, and/oranalyzed based at least in part on the indicia of behavior, and datarelating to the behavior, that are created by the user behavior. Forexample, a user clicking on a link may be detected, recorded, stored,classified, and/or analyzed. Other sample behaviors may include, but arenot limited to, a user scrolling down a page, opening or closing awindow, clicking on a link on a webpage, downloading a file, saving afile, running a file, typing a keyword, or some other user interaction.For each of the user behaviors occurring within the computer network, orderived from behaviors recorded from interaction with another computernetwork, a behavioral gene may be stored in a database that isassociated with the computer network in which the data relating to theuser behavior is recorded and stored. For example, a behavioral genecalled “Internet download” may be created and stored in association withthe computer network. This behavioral gene may summarize the userbehaviors of 1) executing a hyperlink on the Internet, and 2) performinga “save as” action in which a file is saved to a location in thecomputer network, such as a hard drive. A single user behavior (e.g.,closing an application) may be recorded and stored as a behavioral gene.Alternatively, a plurality of user behaviors may be recorded within asingle behavioral gene. The user behaviors embodied in a behavioral genemay be derived from a user's single usage session, for example, oneinstance of running an Internet browser, or may be derived from multipleusage sessions that are temporally distinct, such as a first usagesession in which an Internet browser is used, and a second usage sessionin which a file is opened that was downloaded to the user's hard driveduring the first usage session.

In embodiments, the indication of the code operation may be a result ofcomparing an operation with a predetermined code behavior (hereinafter,a “code gene”). For example, a code gene may be a virus definition, amalware definition, an adware definition, or some other code behavior.The behavioral gene and the code gene may be stored for reference in adatabase. The monitoring of the computer code process executing duringthe usage session may be performed one or more times to collect aplurality of code genes. A combination of one or more behavioral genesmay be combined with one or more code genes and the combination comparedto a predetermined collection of user behavior-code operationindications (“phenotypes”). The phenotypes may comprise a grouping ofspecific behavioral and code gene combinations that are typicallypresent in a type of malicious usage session or operation with acomputer. The identification of a phenotype that is indicative and/orassociated with a malicious computer operation may cause an action, suchas an intrusion preventive action to occur within the computer network.A phenotype may comprise one behavioral gene and a plurality of codegenes, a plurality of behavioral genes and one code gene, or some othercombination of behavioral genes and code genes. In some embodiments, aphenotype may comprise a combination of one or more behavioral genes,one or more code genes, including embodiments in which there is atemporal disparity between the identification of the behavioral gene andthe identification of the code gene.

In embodiments, the step of causing an action, such as a intrusionprevention action, may include creating an audit record. The creation ofan audit record may include updating a log file. In some embodiments,the step of causing an action may include, at least in part, forcing theusage session to occur within a restricted operating environment (e.g.in a sandbox, etc.). In embodiments, the step of causing an action mayinclude, at least in part, preventing a process that would cause afailure, including, but not limited to a computer system failure, adevice failure, a network state failure, or some other failure. The stepof causing an action may include, at least in part, isolating, viaquarantine, the computer on which the user interaction occurs andlimiting network access to or from the computer. The step of causing anaction may include, at least in part, reverting a computer softwarestate back to a prior state that is known to be acceptable. The step ofcausing an action may also include, at least in part, disconnecting adevice, such as a peripheral, a thumb drive, a zip drive, a disk drive,or some other device.

In embodiments, the user interaction with a computer may include, but isnot limited to, executing a link, executing an Internet link, executingan intranet link, downloading a content item from a server, forwardingan URL, forwarding an email, opening an application, closing anapplication, updating an application, patching an application,bookmarking a website, placing an VoIP call, adding an item to ashopping cart, entering a financial datum in a field, making a purchase,using a webcam, creating an application macro, an application shortcut,entering a novel keystroke combination, remotely accessing a computer,submitting a password, attaching a peripheral device, a temporal measure(e.g., time spent on a page, or time between a first and second useraction), a change in a network behavior, a change in a firewall setting,a bridging of two previously unconnected networks, or some other type ofuser interaction.

In embodiments, a user interaction with a computer may include anindicator of inactivity, such as activation of a screen saver orhibernation process.

In embodiments, a user interaction may occur on a keyboard, a mouse, adisplay device, a biometric reader, a camera, a scanning device, aprinter a telecommunication component, or some other device or client ofa computer network. The device or client of the computer network may beremotely associated with the computer network, for example a cell phonethat is used to remotely access and interact with the computer network.The methods and systems of the present invention may distinguish betweenbehaviors occurring on remote devices and clients and those behaviorsthat are occurring on devices local to the computer network, such aswired devices and clients.

In embodiments, indication of a code operation may include, but is notlimited to, an automatic code behavior, such as a system startup, login,scheduled job process, system service, or some other type of codeoperation.

Referring to FIG. 4, the security management facility 122 may comprise ahost intrusion prevention system 200 which may provide behavioral-, andcode-based protection through a behavior monitor facility 204. Thebehavior monitoring facility 204 may guard against unknown threats byanalyzing the behavior of a user 400 and the behavior at runtime forexecuting software code 202. The HIPS 200 may enable the assignment andtemporary storage of code genotype 208 and behavioral genotype 402 datausing both user 400 actions and code processes during a usage session,or plurality of usage sessions, in order to construct a phenotype andphenotype match based at least in part on the code gene 208 and behaviorgene 402. Matching this genotype data with known combinations stored ina behavior-code phenotype database 432, with or without an additionalcontent analysis 222, may enable the identification and interruption ofmalware while it is executing. By matching combinations of userbehaviors and code behaviors in this way, detection of malware may beimproved over solutions where only singular behaviors and a staticcontent analysis is utilized.

In an embodiment, behaviors may be observed during a user's 400 usagesession based at least in part on interactions with a computer and/orclient device of a computer network, such as interactions with one ormore software applications, and the associated execution of code.Behavioral data may be matched to a behavioral gene ID 402 and theexecution of code matched to a code gene ID 208, the combination ofwhich may in turn match a behavior-code phenotype that is stored in thebehavior-code phenotype database 432. A behavior-code phenotype mayindicate the presence of malicious behavior occurring during the usagesession and an action, such as an intrusion prevention action, may betaken.

In embodiments, the behavior monitoring facility 204 may monitor userbehaviors to identify 402 and collect 404 behavior genes. The behaviormonitoring facility 204 may also monitor the executing code to identifyand collect code genes. The behavior monitoring facility 204 may alsoidentify phenotypes (428; 430) that are stored in a behavior-codephenotype database. Certain actions taken by a user 400 may beidentified as behavior genes (410 and 412) and stored in a behavior genedatabase 422. Certain system code operations, modifications or codebehaviors, also known as code genes (414, 418 and 420), may beidentified 208 in the executing code based on code genes (414; 418; 420)that are stored in a code gene database 424.

The indication of suspicious and/or risky user 400 behavior may be aresult of comparing one or more user 400 behaviors with a predeterminedbehavior gene, such as a behavior gene stored for reference in abehavior gene database 422. Such user 400 behaviors may include, but arenot limited to changing the registry, executing malicious code, sendingsensitive information, and other suspicious or risky behaviors asdescribed elsewhere herein.

The indication of a malicious code behavior may be a result of comparingan operation of the executing code with a predetermined code gene, suchas a gene stored for reference in a code gene database 424.

A plurality of malicious user and code behavior indications may becollected in this fashion by comparing a user behavior or a behavior ofan executing code with a predetermined behavior. Behavior and code genesmay continue to be identified progressively over the entire course of acode execution so that at any time during execution, the behaviormonitor facility 204 may match an observed phenotype with one stored ina behavior-code phenotype database 432. Progressive monitoring of userbehaviors and code operations is beneficial as may avoid tricks frommalware where they attempt to evade heuristic environments with timingattacks. At some point, if the code is determined to be non-malicious,the behavior monitor facility 204 may discontinue searching for genes.

As genes are identified as either behavior genes 402 or code genes 208,the combination of behavior and code genes may be collected 404 into agene collection and may be associated as a behavior-code phenotype428,430 that may include the identified behaviors genes and code genes.For example, in FIG. 4, Phenotype I 428 comprises Code Gene A 414,Behavior Gene D 410, and Behavior Gene F 412. Likewise, Phenotype II 430comprises Code Gene B 418, Code Gene C 420, and Behavior Gene F 412.Even though the phenotypes 428, 430 share a common gene, Behavior Gene F412, the behavior-code phenotype identification may be handled on thebasis of the behavior and gene groupings as a whole. Thus, Phenotype I428 may be treated differently from Phenotype II 430, both in terms ofphenotype identification 212 and post-identification actions 214.

Certain malicious code may be identified via a combination of userbehaviors and code behaviors, wherein the combination of behaviors isknown as a phenotype. A phenotype may be a predetermined collection ofmalicious user and code behaviors which may include a grouping ofspecific behavior and code genes that are typically present in relationto a type or family of malicious code. The behavior monitoring facility204 may be able to identify a phenotype 212 of user and code behaviorsin relation to an executing code by comparing a collection of observeduser and code behaviors with the predetermined collections of knownmalicious user and code behaviors stored as phenotypes in abehavior-code phenotype database 432, either temporarily or for a longerterm. Behavior-code phenotypes may capture a combination or a series ofuser and code behaviors that may be ranked to create increasing levelsof confidence that the runtime object being monitored is executing abehavior pattern comparable to a known family of malware. Thepredetermined collections of behaviors, or phenotypes, may be createdbased on suspicious or risky user behavior (e.g. downloading a file froma website, running an executable, opening a signed file with anunverifiable digital signature, or other potentially suspicious or riskybehavior) and scaled analysis of families of malware in runtime, such asin a threat research facility 132 of a threat management facility 100.Including greater combinations of user and code behaviors in thephenotype database 432 may enable more detailed analysis of a suspicioususer behavior or a suspicious code. For example, an analysis of asuspicious code downloaded from a suspicious site by a user may be movedfrom ‘Accessing the registry in this location is bad’ to ‘This processis exhibiting the same behavior as the family of malware Conficker’based on a comparison of a detected phenotype with an existingphenotype. This more detailed analysis may eliminate many unwanteddetections as the probability of a legitimate application attempting toexecute a series of bad behaviors is significantly lower. Equally, thismore specific detection of the family of malware may enable clean up tobe called that can look for other known components of the threat, thusenabling a more comprehensive clean up rather than a simple processkilling. Analyzing the user behavior information in connection with thecode behavior may provide additional accuracy for determining whether amonitored set of behaviors is either likely legitimate or likelyillegitimate. For example, if software code is associated with a userbehavior, such as having downloaded that content from the Internet, aremedial action 220 may be taken since the combination, or phenotype, ofthe code in conjunction with the user's downloading behavior may causemore concern with the code and its potential harm to the computernetwork.

Content analysis 222 may be combined with phenotype identification 212to enable more detailed content analysis 222 to occur based on triggers,avoiding the need for filtering during threat detection and providingadditional context to augment subsequent content analysis 122. Forexample, an executable could be analyzed and found to be legitimateaccording to a pragmatic (or realistic) data set balanced forperformance. As this threat executes, the tree of chains of bad user andcode behaviors would be evaluated and behavior and code genes set torecord the results. These user and code genes may reveal maliciousbehavior, as they may be part of a phenotype that may be linked to aspecific family of malware. The system would then trigger a secondarystatic analysis where additional content analysis 222 functions would beenabled based on the combination of behavior and code genes that werepreviously marked. The type of content analysis that is triggered may bebased on the phenotype. For example, a phenotype may predict membershipof a process in malware family A and content analysis specific tomalware family A is triggered. By combining content analysis 222 withthe behavioral-based protection provided by the HIPS 200, a moredetailed analysis balancing performance and providing greater detectionaccuracy may be enabled.

The behavior monitoring facility 204, as well as the HIPS 200, may besoftware resident on an endpoint. The behavior monitoring facility 204may monitor user behaviors, such as mouse clicks, touchpad movement,keyboard key presses, or other user behaviors. The behavior monitoringfacility 204 may also monitor executing code and processes, such asaccess to resources, API calls, registry access, process manipulation,file system access, and the like, in run time by hooking the process andother such resources. Based on the results of the behavior monitorfacility 204, if the executing code is deemed to be suspicious ormalicious, an action 214 may be caused to occur based on a predictionthat the executing code is the type of malicious code as indicated bythe phenotype. For example, a user input may be ignored, a user inputmay be overridden, code execution may be halted 218, a remedial action220 may be taken, a content analysis 222 may be performed on theexecuting code or on a file produced by the executing code, the codeexecution may be paused while content analysis occurs, and the like. Aremedial action 220 may be specific to the kind of malicious code, suchas the patching of specific exploits that are indicated by the chain ofbehavior observed. A remedial action 220 may be specific to the userbehavior associated with the malicious code. For example, the remedialaction for a user emailing a file infected with a virus may includeprompting the user to clean the infected file. The content analysis mayinvolve at least one of a genotype, a hashing, a partial matching(identifying specific attributes at a known locations in the file or asoffsets from identifiers), an emulation, and an interpretation andtokenisation, including lossy refactoring.

In an example, the behavior monitoring facility 204 may monitor userbehaviors associated with running a virus and code behaviors associatedwith the W32/Sality executable file virus. The user behavior may beexecuting an infected file, and the code behaviors monitored may be:disables OS tools in the registry, disables the MS windows firewall inthe registry, adds itself to the firewall authorized applications listin the registry, and injects code into explorer.exe. The behavioralmonitoring facility 204 would set user genes and code genes associatedwith these behaviors and the phenotype would be the combination of thoseuser and code genes, not necessarily in order. In some phenotypes, theorder of observed behaviors could be a part of the identification whilein others it would not. If necessary some static genes may also bechecked at the same time to further verify that this is actually Sality.The appropriate cleanup routine may then be offered by the HIPS 200 whenthis phenotype is identified in an executing code.

In another example, the behavior monitoring facility 204 may monitoruser and code behaviors associated with the W32/AutoRun worm. The userbehavior monitored may be opening an infected email and the codebehaviors monitored may be: copies itself to system folder, sets a runkey to itself in the registry, sets a second run key to itself in theregistry in a different location, disables OS tools in the registry, andopens a hidden file with name Autorun.inf with write access.

FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart for behavioral-based threat detection. AtStep 502, a user interaction with a computer, during a usage session, ismonitored for an indication of a user behavior, wherein the indicationof the user behavior is a result of comparing the user interaction witha predetermined behavior, referred to as a behavioral gene, where thegene is stored for reference in a database. At Step 504 a computer codeprocess executing during the usage session is monitored for anindication of a code operation, wherein the indication of the codeoperation is a result of comparing an operation with a predeterminedcode behavior, referred to as a code gene, where the code gene is storedfor reference in a database. At Step 508, the previous Step 504 isrepeated a number of times to collect a plurality of code operationindications. At Step 510 a combination of the user behavior and theplurality of code operation indications are compared to a predeterminedcollection of user behavior-code operation indications, referred to as aphenotype, which comprises a grouping of specific behavioral and codegenes that are typically present in a type of malicious usage sessionwith a computer. And, at Step 512, an action is caused based at least inpart on a prediction that the user interaction is the type of malicioususage session as indicated by the phenotype.

The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or inwhole through a machine that executes computer software, program codes,and/or instructions on a processor. The present invention may beimplemented as a method on the machine, as a system or apparatus as partof or in relation to the machine, or as a computer program productembodied in a computer readable medium executing on one or more of themachines. The processor may be part of a server, client, networkinfrastructure, mobile computing platform, stationary computingplatform, or other computing platform. A processor may be any kind ofcomputational or processing device capable of executing programinstructions, codes, binary instructions and the like. The processor maybe or include a signal processor, digital processor, embedded processor,microprocessor or any variant such as a co-processor (math co-processor,graphic co-processor, communication co-processor and the like) and thelike that may directly or indirectly facilitate execution of programcode or program instructions stored thereon. In addition, the processormay enable execution of multiple programs, threads, and codes. Thethreads may be executed simultaneously to enhance the performance of theprocessor and to facilitate simultaneous operations of the application.By way of implementation, methods, program codes, program instructionsand the like described herein may be implemented in one or more thread.The thread may spawn other threads that may have assigned prioritiesassociated with them; the processor may execute these threads based onpriority or any other order based on instructions provided in theprogram code. The processor may include memory that stores methods,codes, instructions and programs as described herein and elsewhere. Theprocessor may access a storage medium through an interface that maystore methods, codes, and instructions as described herein andelsewhere. The storage medium associated with the processor for storingmethods, programs, codes, program instructions or other type ofinstructions capable of being executed by the computing or processingdevice may include but may not be limited to one or more of a CD-ROM,DVD, memory, hard disk, flash drive, RAM, ROM, cache and the like.

A processor may include one or more cores that may enhance speed andperformance of a multiprocessor. In embodiments, the process may be adual core processor, quad core processors, other chip-levelmultiprocessor and the like that combine two or more independent cores(called a die).

The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or inwhole through a machine that executes computer software on a server,client, firewall, gateway, hub, router, or other such computer and/ornetworking hardware. The software program may be associated with aserver that may include a file server, print server, domain server,internet server, intranet server and other variants such as secondaryserver, host server, distributed server and the like. The server mayinclude one or more of memories, processors, computer readable media,storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, andinterfaces capable of accessing other servers, clients, machines, anddevices through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods,programs or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed bythe server. In addition, other devices required for execution of methodsas described in this application may be considered as a part of theinfrastructure associated with the server.

The server may provide an interface to other devices including, withoutlimitation, clients, other servers, printers, database servers, printservers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers andthe like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitateremote execution of program across the network. The networking of someor all of these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a programor method at one or more location without deviating from the scope ofthe invention. In addition, any of the devices attached to the serverthrough an interface may include at least one storage medium capable ofstoring methods, programs, code and/or instructions. A centralrepository may provide program instructions to be executed on differentdevices. In this implementation, the remote repository may act as astorage medium for program code, instructions, and programs.

The software program may be associated with a client that may include afile client, print client, domain client, internet client, intranetclient and other variants such as secondary client, host client,distributed client and the like. The client may include one or more ofmemories, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports(physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable ofaccessing other clients, servers, machines, and devices through a wiredor a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes asdescribed herein and elsewhere may be executed by the client. Inaddition, other devices required for execution of methods as describedin this application may be considered as a part of the infrastructureassociated with the client.

The client may provide an interface to other devices including, withoutlimitation, servers, other clients, printers, database servers, printservers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers andthe like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitateremote execution of program across the network. The networking of someor all of these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a programor method at one or more location without deviating from the scope ofthe invention. In addition, any of the devices attached to the clientthrough an interface may include at least one storage medium capable ofstoring methods, programs, applications, code and/or instructions. Acentral repository may provide program instructions to be executed ondifferent devices. In this implementation, the remote repository may actas a storage medium for program code, instructions, and programs.

The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or inwhole through network infrastructures. The network infrastructure mayinclude elements such as computing devices, servers, routers, hubs,firewalls, clients, personal computers, communication devices, routingdevices and other active and passive devices, modules and/or componentsas known in the art. The computing and/or non-computing device(s)associated with the network infrastructure may include, apart from othercomponents, a storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM,ROM and the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructionsdescribed herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more of thenetwork infrastructural elements.

The methods, program codes, and instructions described herein andelsewhere may be implemented on a cellular network having multiplecells. The cellular network may either be frequency division multipleaccess (FDMA) network or code division multiple access (CDMA) network.The cellular network may include mobile devices, cell sites, basestations, repeaters, antennas, towers, and the like. The cell networkmay be a GSM, GPRS, 3G, EVDO, mesh, or other networks types.

The methods, programs codes, and instructions described herein andelsewhere may be implemented on or through mobile devices. The mobiledevices may include navigation devices, cell phones, mobile phones,mobile personal digital assistants, laptops, palmtops, netbooks, pagers,electronic books readers, music players and the like. These devices mayinclude, apart from other components, a storage medium such as a flashmemory, buffer, RAM, ROM and one or more computing devices. Thecomputing devices associated with mobile devices may be enabled toexecute program codes, methods, and instructions stored thereon.Alternatively, the mobile devices may be configured to executeinstructions in collaboration with other devices. The mobile devices maycommunicate with base stations interfaced with servers and configured toexecute program codes. The mobile devices may communicate on a peer topeer network, mesh network, or other communications network. The programcode may be stored on the storage medium associated with the server andexecuted by a computing device embedded within the server. The basestation may include a computing device and a storage medium. The storagedevice may store program codes and instructions executed by thecomputing devices associated with the base station.

The computer software, program codes, and/or instructions may be storedand/or accessed on machine readable media that may include: computercomponents, devices, and recording media that retain digital data usedfor computing for some interval of time; semiconductor storage known asrandom access memory (RAM); mass storage typically for more permanentstorage, such as optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like harddisks, tapes, drums, cards and other types; processor registers, cachememory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory; optical storage such asCD, DVD; removable media such as flash memory (e.g. USB sticks or keys),floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone RAMdisks, Zip drives, removable mass storage, off-line, and the like; othercomputer memory such as dynamic memory, static memory, read/writestorage, mutable storage, read only, random access, sequential access,location addressable, file addressable, content addressable, networkattached storage, storage area network, bar codes, magnetic ink, and thelike.

The methods and systems described herein may transform physical and/oror intangible items from one state to another. The methods and systemsdescribed herein may also transform data representing physical and/orintangible items from one state to another.

The elements described and depicted herein, including in flow charts andblock diagrams throughout the figures, imply logical boundaries betweenthe elements. However, according to software or hardware engineeringpractices, the depicted elements and the functions thereof may beimplemented on machines through computer executable media having aprocessor capable of executing program instructions stored thereon as amonolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, or asmodules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, orany combination of these, and all such implementations may be within thescope of the present disclosure. Examples of such machines may include,but may not be limited to, personal digital assistants, laptops,personal computers, mobile phones, other handheld computing devices,medical equipment, wired or wireless communication devices, transducers,chips, calculators, satellites, tablet PCs, electronic books, gadgets,electronic devices, devices having artificial intelligence, computingdevices, networking equipments, servers, routers and the like.Furthermore, the elements depicted in the flow chart and block diagramsor any other logical component may be implemented on a machine capableof executing program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawingsand descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed systems,no particular arrangement of software for implementing these functionalaspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitlystated or otherwise clear from the context. Similarly, it will beappreciated that the various steps identified and described above may bevaried, and that the order of steps may be adapted to particularapplications of the techniques disclosed herein. All such variations andmodifications are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure.As such, the depiction and/or description of an order for various stepsshould not be understood to require a particular order of execution forthose steps, unless required by a particular application, or explicitlystated or otherwise clear from the context.

The methods and/or processes described above, and steps thereof, may berealized in hardware, software or any combination of hardware andsoftware suitable for a particular application. The hardware may includea general purpose computer and/or dedicated computing device or specificcomputing device or particular aspect or component of a specificcomputing device. The processes may be realized in one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers,programmable digital signal processors or other programmable device,along with internal and/or external memory. The processes may also, orinstead, be embodied in an application specific integrated circuit, aprogrammable gate array, programmable array logic, or any other deviceor combination of devices that may be configured to process electronicsignals. It will further be appreciated that one or more of theprocesses may be realized as a computer executable code capable of beingexecuted on a machine readable medium.

The computer executable code may be created using a structuredprogramming language such as C, an object oriented programming languagesuch as C++, or any other high-level or low-level programming language(including assembly languages, hardware description languages, anddatabase programming languages and technologies) that may be stored,compiled or interpreted to run on one of the above devices, as well asheterogeneous combinations of processors, processor architectures, orcombinations of different hardware and software, or any other machinecapable of executing program instructions.

Thus, in one aspect, each method described above and combinationsthereof may be embodied in computer executable code that, when executingon one or more computing devices, performs the steps thereof. In anotheraspect, the methods may be embodied in systems that perform the stepsthereof, and may be distributed across devices in a number of ways, orall of the functionality may be integrated into a dedicated, standalonedevice or other hardware. In another aspect, the means for performingthe steps associated with the processes described above may include anyof the hardware and/or software described above. All such permutationsand combinations are intended to fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

While the invention has been disclosed in connection with the preferredembodiments shown and described in detail, various modifications andimprovements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled inthe art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the present invention isnot to be limited by the foregoing examples, but is to be understood inthe broadest sense allowable by law.

All documents referenced herein are hereby incorporated by reference.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer program product embodied in anon-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing on one ormore computers, performs the steps of: A) monitoring a user interactionwith a computer, the user interaction including a plurality of userbehaviors by a single user during a usage session, for a firstindication of a user behavior, wherein the first indication of the userbehavior is a result of comparing the user interaction with one of aplurality of predetermined behaviors, referred to as behavioral genes,where each one of the behavior genes is stored for reference in adatabase; B) monitoring a computer code process executing during theusage session for a first indication of a first code operation, whereinthe first indication of the first code operation is a result ofcomparing the first code operation with one of a plurality ofpredetermined code behaviors, referred to as code genes, where each oneof the code genes is stored for reference in a database; C) performingstep B) a number of times to collect a first plurality of code operationindications; D) comparing a combination of the first indication of userbehavior and the first plurality of code operation indications to afirst predetermined collection of user behavior-code operationindications, referred to as a phenotype, which comprises a grouping ofspecific behavioral and code genes that are typically present in a typeof malicious usage session with a computer; E) based on a detection of acollection of known malicious behaviors in step D), performing thefollowing steps to obtain an increased level of confidence that a knownfamily of malware is present: E1) monitoring the user interaction for asecond indication of a second user behavior, wherein the secondindication of the second user behavior is a result of comparing the userinteraction with one of the behavioral genes; E2) monitoring thecomputer code process executing during the usage session for a secondindication of a second code operation, wherein the second indication ofthe second code operation is a result of comparing the second codeoperation with one of the code genes; E3) performing step E2 a secondnumber of times to collect a second plurality of code operationindications; E4) comparing a second combination of the second userbehavior and the second plurality of code operation indications to asecond phenotype which comprises a second grouping of specificbehavioral and code genes that are typically present in a type ofmalicious usage session with a computer; and F) causing an action basedon a prediction that the user interaction is the type of malicious usagesession as indicated by the second phenotype.
 2. The computer programproduct of claim 1, wherein the step of causing an action based on theprediction includes, at least in part, creating an audit record.
 3. Thecomputer program product of claim 2, wherein creating the audit recordincludes updating a log file.
 4. The computer program product of claim1, wherein the step of causing an action based on the predictionincludes, at least in part, forcing the usage session to occur within arestricted operating environment.
 5. The computer program product ofclaim 4, wherein the restricted operating environment is a sandbox. 6.The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the step of causing anaction based on the prediction includes, at least in part, at least oneof preventing a process that would cause a computer system failure,preventing a process that would cause a device failure, preventing aprocess that would cause a network states failure, reverting a computersoftware state back to a prior state that is known to be acceptable,device status change, and a change in the status of a peripheral.
 7. Thecomputer program product of claim 1, wherein the step of causing anaction based on the prediction includes, at least in part, isolating,via quarantine, the computer on which the user interaction occurs andlimiting network access to or from the computer.
 8. The computer programproduct of claim 1, wherein the user interaction with a computerincludes at least one of executing a link, executing an Internet link,executing an Intranet link, downloading content item from a server,forwarding an URL, forwarding an email, opening an application, closingan application, updating an application, patching an application,bookmarking website, placing a VoIP call, adding an item to shoppingcart, entering financial data, making a purchase, using a webcam,creation of an application macro, creation of an application shortcut, anovel keystroke combination, accessing computer remotely, submittingpassword, a change in the status of a peripheral device or softwareapplication, a network route changes, a firewall enable, a firewalldisable, a change in a firewall status, a DNS change, a bridging of twopreviously unconnected networks.
 9. The computer program product ofclaim 1, wherein the user interaction with a computer includes aninactivity indicator.
 10. The computer program product of claim 9,wherein the inactivity indicator is activation of at least one of ascreen saver and a hibernation process.
 11. The computer program productof claim 1, wherein the user interaction with a computer includes atemporal indicator.
 12. The computer program product of claim 11,wherein the temporal indicator is at least one of a time amount spent ona page, a time amount spent in an application, and a time amount spentbetween a first user action and a second user action.
 13. The computerprogram product of claim 1, wherein the user interaction with a computerincludes a change in a network behavior.
 14. The computer programproduct of claim 13, wherein the change in the network behavior is atleast one of a VPN enable, a VPN disable, a VPN start, and a VPN end.15. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the userinteraction with a computer occurs at least in part on at least one of akeyboard, a mouse, a display device, a biometric reader, a camera, astorage device, a scanning device, a printer, a telecommunicationcomponent.
 16. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein theindication of a code operation is an automatic code behavior.
 17. Thecomputer program product of claim 16, wherein the automatic codebehavior is at least one of a system startup, a login, a scheduled jobprocess, a system service, and a remotely executed example.
 18. Acomputer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readablemedium that, when executing on one or more computers, performs the stepsof: A) monitoring a user interaction with a computer, the userinteraction including a plurality of user behaviors by a single userduring a usage session, for a first indication of a user behavior,wherein the first indication of the user behavior is a result ofcomparing the user interaction with one of a plurality of predeterminedbehaviors, referred to as behavioral genes, where each one of thebehavioral genes is stored for reference in a database; B) monitoring acomputer code process executing during the usage session for a firstindication of a first code operation, wherein the first indication ofthe first code operation is a result of comparing the first codeoperation with one of a plurality of predetermined code behaviors,referred to as code genes, where each one of the code genes is storedfor reference in a database; C) performing step A) a number of times tocollect a first plurality of user behavior indications; D) comparing acombination of the first indication of the first code operation and thefirst plurality of user behavior indications to a first predeterminedcollection of code operation-user behavior indications, referred to as aphenotype, which comprises a grouping of specific code and behavioralgenes that are typically present in a type of malicious usage sessionwith a computer; E) based on a detection of a collection of knownmalicious behaviors in step D), performing the following steps to obtainan increased level of confidence that a known family of malware ispresent: E1) monitoring the user interaction for a second indication ofa second user behavior, wherein the second indication of the second userbehavior is a result of comparing the user interaction with one of thebehavioral genes; E2) monitoring the computer code process executingduring the usage session for a second indication of a second codeoperation, wherein the second indication of the second code operation isa result of comparing the second code operation with one of the codegenes; E3) performing step E1 a second number of times to collect asecond plurality of user behavior indications; E4) comparing a secondcombination of the second plurality of user behavior indications and thesecond code operation indication to a second phenotype which comprises asecond grouping of specific behavioral and code genes that are typicallypresent in a type of malicious usage session with a computer; and F)causing an action based on a prediction that the user interaction is thetype of malicious usage session as indicated by the second phenotype.19. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computerreadable medium that, when executing on one or more computers, performsthe steps of: A) monitoring a user interaction with a computer, the userinteraction including a plurality of user behaviors by a single userduring a usage session, for a first indication of a user behavior,wherein the first indication of the user behavior is a result ofcomparing the user interaction with one of a plurality of predeterminedbehaviors, referred to as behavioral genes, where each one of thebehavioral genes is stored for reference in a database; B) storing thefirst indication of the user behavior with a computer code processrelating to the user interaction with the computer during the usagesession; C) monitoring the computer code process relating to the userinteraction with the computer during the usage session for a firstindication of a first code operation, wherein the first indication ofthe first code operation is a result of comparing the first codeoperation with one of a plurality of predetermined code behaviors,referred to as code genes, where each one of the code genes is storedfor reference in a database; D) performing step C) a number of times tocollect a first plurality of code operation indications; E) comparing acombination of the first indication of the user behavior and the firstplurality of code operation indications to a predetermined collection ofuser behavior-code operation indications, referred to as a phenotype,which comprises a grouping of specific behavioral and code genes thatare typically present in a type of malicious usage session with acomputer; F) based on a detection of a collection of known maliciousbehaviors in step E), performing the following steps to obtain anincreased level of confidence that a known family of malware is present:F1) monitoring the user interaction for a second indication of a seconduser behavior, wherein the second indication of the second user behavioris a result of comparing the user interaction with one of the behavioralgenes; F2) monitoring the computer code process during the usage sessionfor a second indication of a second code operation, wherein the secondindication of the second code operation is a result of comparing thesecond code operation with one of the of code genes; F3) performing stepF2 a second number of times to collect a second plurality of codeoperation indications; F4) comparing a second combination of the seconduser behavior and the second plurality of code operation indications toa second phenotype which comprises a second grouping of specificbehavioral and code genes that are typically present in a type ofmalicious usage session with a computer; and G) causing an action basedon a prediction that the user interaction is the type of malicious usagesession as indicated by the second phenotype.